Harvesting The Fruits of Contemplation

Today our Dominican family celebrates the memorial of St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617). She was the first canonized saint of the Western hemisphere, a contemporary of St. Martin DePorres and Saint John Macias , and “patron saint of Lima, Peru, all the Americas, the Phillippines, India, florists, gardeners, and people ridiculed for their piety” .   The Office of Readings today offers this excerpt from her writings for our fruitful meditation and response:   Our Lord and Savior lifted up his voice and said with incomparable majesty: “Let all men know that grace comes after tribulation. Let them know that without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. Let them know that the gifts of grace increase as the struggles increase. Let men take care not to stray and be deceived. This is the only true stairway to paradise, and without the cross they can find no road to climb to heaven.” When I heard these words, a strong force came upon me an...

Did you know that three great Domician saints lived at the same time in Lima, Peru? They are  - St. Rose of Lima, St. John Macias and St. Martin de Porres. Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Martin de Porres. If you want to get a good sense of this outstanding Dominican, read A Brother to His Brothers , an article posted today by Brother John Baptist Hoang, O.P., a student at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. For your information, the Church celebrates the feast day of St. Rose of Lima on August 23rd and that of St. John Macias on September 18th. I wrote a little piece on St. Rose last August. You may be able to tease your curiosity about St. John by glancing at this brief article . St. Martin, St. Rose, St John Macias aand all the Dominican saints and blesseds, pray for us!